Under a Jewelled Sky
by MelonRinds
Summary: Carlos and Dorothy Ann's wedding is approaching and the planning and organizing of the event is all Dorothy Ann can think of. Until Carlos comes up with an idea. Oneshot.


**I really am trying to finish up the last chapter of "Now I Know There's Something More", but I always find I have troubles with the endings... And until I figure out where exactly I want to end it, I'll be writing down random plot bunnies until one actually forms a story. Like this random drabble that ended up turning into a oneshot. Written awhile ago actually, just recently went through and edited it a bit. I'm not 100 percent happy with it (well, i'm not 100 percent happy with anything I write), but I felt brave enough to post it tonight.**

**Pairings: C/DA (of course:p), and R/W**

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Carlos groaned and buried his head into his pillow, trying to ease the throbbing ache in his head. Working a ten hour shift at the hospital was not something that he would call fun. Working a ten hour shift, coming home past nine, and then being kept awake by your fiancée as she planned the wedding that seemed to be years off, was even less enjoyable. 

The ruffling of papers at his side and the constant banging of the wedding help book that DA was using as it fell on the bedside table, only to be picked up again, and then dropped again, was not helping the pounding in his head. It almost made him want to call off the wedding entirely. Almost.

"DA..." he groaned for what felt like the millionth time that night. She ignored him as usual whenever she had the wedding book open on her lap and continued fretting. Talking mostly to herself, her voice rose and fell at irregular intervals as she reviewed the information in the package resting on her lap. Carlos breathed deep into the pillow, wishing his headache would just go away.

"We still need to figure out what cake we want, where we're even going to have it, what kind of dinner - the cost - !"

"DA.."

"And the maid of honor! I know mom thinks it should be Evan, but I know she won't cooperate, but then I have to choose between Wanda, Phoebe, and Keesha - "

"DA..."

"Photographer.. Tim could probably do it.. But then we'd have to invite Janet too - "

"DA..." Carlos groaned again and tried to cover his ears with his pillow.

"_What_ Carlos!" Dorothy Ann Parker snapped and she finally tore her eyes away from the book to look at him. "Can't you see I'm busy!" Carlos looked at her through half opened eyes, the blue pools of intelligence narrowed at him as he dared to complain at a time like this.

"It's two in the morning DA.." Carlos moaned, turning around groggily onto his back and rubbing his eyes. "We have three months left to plan this.. Can't you just relax one night?"

"Relax?!" Dorothy Ann's eyes were open wide and looked livid. Her blonde hair appeared very bushy at the moment, falling messily around her round face. It didn't look like she had slept for a few days now, keeping Carlos awake alongside with her. "I can't relax! Believe it or not, three months is not a lot of time! Before you know it, it'll be three weeks, and then three days, and then - " She gasped and her eyes widened. "And we don't even have a caterer yet!"

Carlos groaned and rolled back over onto his side. Dorothy Ann and himself had been engaged for exactly two months already; he had proposed to her in February, just before her twenty fourth birthday. They had both already finished bachelors degrees in Walkerville university, but both had been accepted into Eastern Connecticut State University for their masters. The two had been living together in a small apartment ever since the move, shortly after Carlos had asked Dorothy Ann to be his wife.

Because of their tight school schedule with part time jobs and classes, they had decided that having the wedding in June before the summer semester started would be the best idea. Unfortunately, that meant Dorothy Ann panicking about their supposed lack of any time to plan the wedding.

"I thought we'd agree it would a small wedding," Carlos said, sitting up slowly. He had officially given up on trying to get to sleep.

"Well, yes, but then you have to remember how large my family is and - "

"Most of my family's in Spain and they aren't planning to spend the money to fly all the way over here," Carlos yawned and leaned his pounding head back against the headboard.

"Yes, but what about all your cousins in Pennsylvania?!" Dorothy Ann flipped through a few of the loose sheets of paper she was resting on her knees. "Your mother insisted we invite them.. And then there's.. hmm.." she brought her pen to her mouth and sucked lightly on the end of it.

"DA, stop it. You're scaring me. Just relax..."

"If you tell me to relax one more time - " DA held the pen out at him threateningly.

Carlos just smirked slightly at the threat and reached out with on hand. He rested it lightly on the top of her exposed knee(the bottom of her pink nightgown had slipped slightly off one) and started massaging it gently. "Just forget about it one night, DA... You haven't put that wedding help book down since we got engaged.."

"Carlos... stop it," Dorothy Ann said, but her tone wasn't as snappy anymore. Carlos had found out quite soon after they started dating that one of the easiest things he could do to calm her down was just to massage her knee gently. "Carlos... don't..."

Carlos ignored her and leaned in so that he could rest his chin on her shoulder. Her hair smelled like coconut. "DA.." he asked quietly.

"What?" she asked, scratching the end of her nose with her pen and looking into the binder full of wedding information.

"Why does that 'practice' invitation say, 'you're invited to _Dorothy Ann_ and Carlos' wedding'?"

"W - what?!" DA choked and jumped on the bed. Her shoulder bone banged hard onto Carlos' chin and he jumped back slightly. "What would you rather it say? 'You're invited to Dorothy Ann and_ Ralphie's_ wedding?!"

"No!" Carlos said, rubbing his chin. "I mean, don't you think '_Carlos_ and Dorothy Ann' sounds better?"

There was a long pause where his finacee just stared at him with her mouth slightly open. Then - "Y - you're not serious."

He didn't say anything, just continued to grin.

Dorothy Ann's expression turned from dumbfounded to slightly irritated. "I cannot believe you just said that..." She turned back to the binder and flipped over a few pages.

Carlos slumped back into the pillows and folded his arms across his chest. "How about Carlos and _DA_?"

"DA and Carlos - er - Dorothy Ann and Carlos," Dorothy Ann slammed the book shut and turned to him. "It's nice to know that your immaturity has managed to live, undamaged, through so many years, right into your adulthood."

Carlos smirked. "_I'm _the immature one. I'm not the one who dumped that wine over Wanda's head when she suggested that you try a wedding dress a size up when another one wouldn't fit."

"How do you know about - well I've already sent out the invitations so it's too late to change anything," Dorothy Ann said, suddenly deciding to ignore his last comment.

"I saw them on the kitchen counter just an hour ago when I went to go get some water."

He saw Dorothy Ann's pale cheeks turn slightly pink.

"And why don't I get any say in this anyways? I thought it was _our_ wedding."

Dorothy Ann raised her eyebrows. "I let you pick the flowers.. And anyways, you're always half asleep whenever I have the time."

"Is it my fault the only time you have is from twelve to three in the morning?" Carlos rubbed his eyes again and stretched.

"Well they're really pushing me at the lab to get this report done at work," Dorothy Ann said, turning away from him at back to the book. Carlos saw her try to stifle a yawn. "Look, I'm sorry Carlos. But it really can't be helped. That is if you want to get married in June at all. I - I supposed we could wait next year - b - but... But if you want a say in it go ahead. Just tell me your idea and I'll tell you if it's acceptable or not."

Carlos crossed his arms and slumped back into the pillows. "Or maybe you'll tell me your idea, and _I'll_ say whether it's acceptable or not."

Dorothy Ann rolled her eyes, and picked up the mug of coffee that was resting on the bedside table. "Don't even start Carlos.. You'll just get bored of this in five minutes if I let you handle this whole thing yourself."

"You're right," Carlos said crisply. "That's why I came up with this brilliant idea that sees that I only have to plan for five minutes at the most."

"Okay Carlos..." Dorothy Ann said tiredly, rubbing her eyes again and turning back to the papers resting on her lap. "No one can plan a wedding in five minutes, not even you."

"Oh yeah?" Carlos raised an eyebrow cheekily. He saw Dorothy Ann roll her eyes at him, but he wasn't fooled. He also managed to catch a slight twitch in the corners of her mouth as though she was about to smile. "Come on, don't tell me you haven't been thinking about it too, I've rubbed off on you too much."

Dorothy Ann let out a humorous laugh. "Ha! Excuse me? As if you could ever influence me." She said the words, but even if Carlos wasn't so sure of himself, he couldn't have missed the uncertainly in her voice. Or regret.

He grinned playfully and propped himself up on one arm. Dorothy Ann was still glaring at him. She narrowed her eyes. "And what do you mean, 'don't tell me you haven't been thinking it too?' Thinking about what Carlos? Carlos! Stop laughing!"

Carlos shielded himself with his arm as DA attacked him with a pillow, still laughing like mad at her reaction. "Arg! Okay, okay." He sat up again and leaned against the headboard, trying to compose himself. Dorothy Ann looked furious.

"_What_ is so funny! What should I be thinking about!" Dorothy Ann eyed him suspiciously. "You being able to plan a wedding in five minutes... You're not - " he eyes went as wide as saucers. "You think I thought of cancelling it!"

"W - what? No - " Carlos was caught slightly off guard. "_Quite_ the opposite actually - "

"Carlos, I don't have time for your childish games right now," Dorothy Ann snapped and turned away from him and back to the book.

Carlos shrugged. "Fine, don't listen to my idea. And _you_ were the one who threw the pillow anyways..."

Dorothy Ann sighed. "Fine! What's your idea?" She folded her arms across her chest and slumped back against her pillows. "And this better be good."

"Well not with that attitude," and Carlos promptly flopped back onto his side and rolled over away from Dorothy Ann. He heard her let out a frustrated huff. Then it went silent for a couple of minutes. Carlos didn't even hear the rustling of papers. Then -

"I might have thought of something that you might think of once. Then I realized it was crazy and stupid, like all of your other ideas."

Carlos shifted back around. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," Dorothy Ann eyed him warily. He knew she could see his eyes gleaming with excitement at that moment. He couldn't help it, not being able to hide it. "No."

"Why not?!" Carlos demanded.

"We can't."

"Can't what? You don't know what my idea was - is!"

"I can still say no!" Dorothy Ann turned back to the book and turned the page roughly. He continued to stare at her, smiling placidly as he did so.

"DA..." he said slowly.

"What Carlos?" she snapped, but she seemed to have calmed down a bit after reading a few sentences already.

"Do you want to elope with me?"

She looked up from the book sharply. "What did you say?"

"Elope with me?" Carlos said smiling, and he brought his hand back up to her knee.

She stared at him for a few seconds, apparently speechless.

"Is that what you were thinking?" he asked quickly, before she had a chance to say anything.

"Well... Yes, actually. But honestly Carlos, what little girl doesn't. I also had a lot of fantasies about getting married in front of my family and friends too."

Carlos shrugged. "Well if you don't like it, fine. I'll go with whatever you want." He snuggled into his pillows and comforter and closed his eyes. "It's just that everytime I think about you and I getting married, it's quiet, you know, just you and me."

His eyes were still closed and he felt Dorothy Ann's warm body shuffle slightly against his.

"And it's always just you and me?" he heard her ask. "You never see any of our friends, your mother's tear stained face?"

Carlos opened his eyes. "Not really. I usually just see you. And me, alone. Under the stars you know. Not in some fancy church where you can't even see the sky through the windows."

Dorothy Ann laughed and he felt her lean back onto the bed next to him. Her breath tickled his ear when she spoke. "As great as that might sound to you, we can't. I mean, think of our parents, think of - "

"Think of the sleep you'll catch up on, think of the relief of not having to worry about any of this planning crap again, think of the idea that the two of us could be married by this time tomorrow by a pastor or whatever on a hilltop under the setting sun... waiting for the stars.." Carlos spoke softly, and leaned in closer to her ear, until her hair tickled the end of his nose. He opened his eyes. She was beaming at him.

Carlos grinned back and continued. "Just you and me. You don't have to worry about annoying little cousins screaming during the ceremony, you don't have to worry about any drunk uncles, or drunk Wanda and Ralphie for that matter.."

"Carlos..." Dorothy Ann moaned, in a tone that was supposed to be slightly threatening. "Carlos, don't - don't be ridiculous.."

Carlos sat up straight again. "And why is it ridiculous?"

"It - it just is okay?!" Dorothy Ann spluttered. "If you actually took the time to think the idea through you'd see how completely crazy and - "

" - impulsive it is?" Carlos finished. "And kissing you for the first time in the middle of the school gym in front of the whole class wasn't?"

Dorothy Ann's mouth dropped open. "I - I - Carlos - you should have seen the death glare Florrie gave me that day - but - I - we can't elope!"

"Why not?!" Carlos demanded.

"Just because!" Dorothy Ann said angrily. "I've been planning this for a month already. I'm not just going to turn my back on all this!"

"Do you want this big wedding?" Carlos asked her.

"I - no. I don't want this big of a wedding, but we can't have a smaller one. And - we just - we _can't_ elope!"

"You haven't given me a good enough reason not to do it," Carlos said. "All I can see is you and me on some secluded beach in Tuscany this weekend having finally officially promised to spend the rest of our lives together."

"I wasn't a hundred percent set on Tuscany as our honeymoon, you know," Dorothy Ann said, and Carlos knew she only said that because she couldn't think of something else to say. He had gotten to her.

"Does it matter?" he asked before he leaned in so far that their lips met. He heard the pen Dorothy Ann had been holding clatter to the ground below as her hand made it's way to his chest. She deepened the kiss and he felt her shift on her side and press her body against his. The wedding papers crumpled between them, but neither seemed to care too much.

Her inner thigh, bare as she was only wearing a nightgown, brushed against his leg and, with a groan, Carlos felt his body respond.

"Dorothy Ann..." he mumbled against her lips. And Dorothy Ann only responded by kissing him harder. He could taste the lingering coffee on her lips.

"You're impossibly stubborn..." she murmured into his ear as he started kissing her neck.

"Persuasive," Carlos mumbled into her shoulder. He didn't even bother to retort with a reply that stated the same about her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and started pushing her back down onto her pillows with his body. He heard a distant yowl and thought he might have accidently kicked the furry lump known as their cat in his enthusiasm.

He felt Dorothy Ann's hand lightly grab the front of his pyjamas and groaned. He couldn't feel the pain in his head anymore; he could only feel her. Her soft hands tangling themselves in his hair, her breasts pressed against his chest, her warm mouth on his...

xxx

Wanda Tenelli yawned widely and poured herself a cup of strong coffee from the pot sitting on the kitchen counter. Eyes half open, she made her way to the table and collapsed in the nearest hair; her free hand reached for the latest sports magazine lying open on the table.

It wasn't often she was awake after her husband. Wanda worked as a commercial pilot and was often called to work in the early hours of the day. But she had a day off today and didn't feel much like going for an early jog with Ralphie this particular morning. She yawned again and ran a hand through her black pinstraight hair.

She heard the front door open and the jingling of keys as Ralphie placed them on the hook above their shoes. She took a sip of coffee while she waited for Ralphie to take his shoes off and enter the kitchen.

"Finally up?" he asked as he entered.

"You're one to talk," Wanda said, standing up so that she could greet him properly with a kiss. Ralphie Tenelli was not usually a morning person, so it was a good thing he had a job that didn't require him to get to work until the afternoon. Ralphie worked as a chef afternoons and evenings in a local restaurant. It was only temporary until he could finish his degree in physical therapy. Sometimes Ralphie did, however, manage to crawl out of bed at dawn to go for early morning jogs if the weather was scheduled to be particularly hot that day.

"We got a letter from Carlos and DA," Ralphie said when their lips finally parted. He held up the white envelope in one hand for her to see. Wanda frowned.

"A letter? Who sends letters anymore. What's wrong with email? Hell it's DA and Carlos, what's wrong with the phone or just stopping by?"

Ralphie just shrugged and stole a bite out of the bagel on Wanda's plate. "It's probably their wedding invitation."

"Oh, right," Wanda said, ripping the paper open with her nails. "She'd better not have changed the bridesmaids dress _again_. I'm telling you if I have to wear that - that..." she trailed off and stared at the letter looking slightly shocked.

"What's up?" Ralphie asked.

"They - they've eloped!"

"What?! Let me see that!" Ralphie reached for the letter Wanda held just out of his reach. The scrawl on the paper was very untidy, like it had been written in a hurry, and so Ralphie was surprised to read that it was Carlos who had done the writing. Dorothy Ann's handwriting was usually the one you'd compare to a third grader's. Ralphie moved around in behind Wanda and read the letter for himself.

_Dear Wanda and Ralphie Tenelli,_

_Dorothy Ann and I decided to skip town this week. We're in Tuscany right now - or we will be once you've read this. __We both decided we wanted to leave a bit earlier than expected! __Yeah, we got married! DA's a bit worried you'll be mad we blew all you off - especially Wanda, she knew you really wanted to be the maid of honor. But we both decided this is what we really wanted. See you guys in a week!_

_Much love,_

_Mr. and Mrs. Ramone_

And as Wanda dropped the letter on the kitchen counter and hurried over to the phone to see if any of their other friends had gotten the news yet, Ralphie picked it up again slowly.

"Eloped..?" Ralphie frowned at the letter. "Hey, Wanda," he turned to his wife who was putting milk back into the fridge, "Why didn't we think of this?!"

Wanda just shook her head disgustedly at him. As though he was crazy for suggesting she pass up a chance to be the bride, the center of attention as was required, for a day.

xxx

Dorothy Ann Ramone felt like an idiot. She wasn't thinking of her parents and family that she had left behind, of any of the people that were sure they would attend her wedding. She wasn't thinking of the caterer that they had already called up dozens of times, changing the main course. She wasn't even thinking about the fact that she was in Italy for the first time in her life. She couldn't think about anything except the fact that there was now a shining gold band on her index finger symboling that she was now married to Carlos Ramone.

She felt extremely giddy. Had felt extremely giddy ever since her and Carlos had snuck out of their apartment the day after he proposed they elope. Her mouth hurt from grinning and she hardly noticed the fact that she was jumping on their hotel bed while she waited for Carlos to return.

He came back just after she hit her head on the hotel room's ceiling. He was holding a champagne bottle in one hand, and two glasses in another. Dorothy Ann leapt off the bed and threw her arms around him, kissing him hard on the mouth as she pulled his head down to her height.

"I'm Mrs. Ramone!" Dorothy Ann squealed excitedly as she pulled back so that Carlos could place the bottle safely on the table on the side of the room.

"I know," Carlos grinned back. "Are you sure you haven't already had some of this stuff already?" he motioned to the champagne.

Dorothy Ann shook her head, still sporting that goofy grin on her face that she seemed to have adopted from her husband. She kissed him hard on the lips and pulled him down onto the bed with her with his tie.

She didn't know if this decision would ever come back to haunt her. If in fifty years she'd regret not having some lavish party to look back on, with all her friends and family celebrating the love between her and the man she had been in hopelessly smitten with since the seventh grade. If she'd rue the fact that she didn't have something like that to ever look back on when things got tough, her in an expensive white dress, her hair extravagantly done up. But Dorothy Ann found she did not care much, and knew that if ever she fell into a mess with Carlos, if they're arguing ever got so bad that she needed a happy memory of the two of them to remind herself of why she was still with him, she knew that nothing could top the image of her and him locking hands underneath Tuscany's sky. The stars burning strongly, billions of light years away, reflecting in his dark eyes while she beamed at him with her own blue, and their hands clasped together tightly as they were joined as one under the jewelled sky.

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**Might go back and edit a few parts later. In the meantime...**

**I do like them reviews :)**


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